[First CORE and SID module: parts questions]

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual_fp.html

http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_lcd.html

http://www.crystalfontz.com/product/CFAH2004AGGHJP.html

http://www.crystalfontz.com/product/CFAH2004ATMIJP.html

I like the format of the 4x20 best. You can choose whichever format you like, you don't have to stick with what is shown in the examples. Just make sure the controller is supported, which it is on the 2 LCDs I showed you. Part of building it yourself is customizing it for yourself. Choose whichever one you like best.

[First CORE and SID module: parts questions]

For the LCD, may I recommend this or this? They're not the latest models, but you can't beat the price.

[First CORE and SID module: parts questions]

Fair enough. I hope you understood my meaning, it's pretty common to see the laziness I was talking about, and I really am not someone who would rip someone a new one anyway. I was trying to be helpful in the long run.

Remember that Wilba's MB-6582 is pretty much the same thing as 4 cores + 2 SID modules per core, plus all the DINs, DOUTs, etc. involved, so all control surface parts listed there work for a basic MB SID.

15x Rotary Encoders. They are the ones that Voti sell http://www.voti.nl/winkel/p/SW-ROT.html ' date=' but I didn't get them from Voti, I got them direct from Electronics China, part number R162EC-BD1-24C Datasheet which have shaft length 20mm (L=20mm) and overall height of 26.5mm. If you look closely on the PCB, you'll see there's provision for smaller encoders with a different pinout, but they might not be the right height. The ones I use can be pulled apart and the detent removed, but leave the menu encoder detented for better handling of menus, patch changes etc. Other builders confirm that an “Alpha†brand rotary encoder (Mouser part 318-ENC160F-24P) is identical.

Obviously, you don't necessarily need 20mm ones, because those are the dimensions to fit his project with a PT-10 case. Look on his Control Surface Parts List for more information on parts for a control surface.

[First CORE and SID module: parts questions]

Not to be unfriendly, but all of these questions could be answered with very little research on your part. Part of building a project like this is learning these things, and if you can't be bothered with learning what a potentiometer is or what an encoder is, then maybe this isn't the project for you. The people here are a great resource if you run into real problems, but you shouldn't be asking them if a potentiometer and an encoder are the same thing. It comes across as lazy, and as though you think your time is much more valuable than theirs. Get on Wikipedia at the very least.

Again, I'm really not trying to be unfriendly, but people new to electronics sometimes think that it's all extremely complicated and difficult to learn about, and it's not. While it's easier to just ask others to do all the work for you, you don't really learn anything that way, and the fact is that it's extremely easy to find this info. While PICs and SIDs aren't used in every electronic device in your house, the rest of the parts and concepts are, so don't think that you need to learn all that stuff here. Look around.

Also, any problems you run into have probably already happened to someone else, so search these forums before you ask, and you may just find a ten-page detailed solution to it.

Good luck!

[Do you use a mixer to mix your SID's in your MB-6582]

Well, if it's being used as 4 stereo pairs, then you're really only using 1 stereo channel for each "instrument". If you're using all 8 SIDs together as one huge polyphonic patch, then it might not make sense, but otherwise, it makes a lot of sense to split them up if you've got the space on your mixer.

Or I could just go with the more obvious answer: Music is an expressive art form, so whichever way you prefer to do it is the right way.

[So how did I go with soldering?]

Check out the one at the bottom of this page.

This site has a bunch of great stuff on the cheap.

You can find a solder sucker and desoldering braid on this page.

[So how did I go with soldering?]

Desoldering braid is braided copper impregnated with rosin, so it will wick up the solder. It comes on a small, somewhat flat plastic spool.

To pull out IC's, they make a handy tool called an IC Puller, it's like tweezers with hooked tips.

[MB-6582 panels...]

Wow.

Well, speedy recovery to you, Doug. That's quite a thing you've done.

[So how did I go with soldering?]

Solder tends to attract to the hottest point, and won't stick to anything that's cold, so make sure you're heating the pad enough as well. The soldering iron should be touching both the component lead and the pad (remember to keep a small amount of solder on the tip to act as a thermal conductor), and the solder should be applied directly to the joint, not the iron tip. On the blobs in question, it seems that the pad didn't get heated enough, and that the solder just pooled to the hottest point.

[So how did I go with soldering?]

Heating it up won't correct anything unless you add flux, and there's too much solder there anyway. You'd be much better off to remove the solder and redo it. Since you don't have a solder sucker, if by any chance you have desoldering braid that will work, too. That stuff's indispensable, in my opinion.

[Tactile Switches and Rotary Encoders]

Unless, of course, Voti has the right switches.

[Tactile Switches and Rotary Encoders]

If you can get over 100 ordered, people would still be saving money by not having to pay for shipping from 2 different places (Voti for encoders, Mouser for switches).

[ALBS "Waldorf" Knobs order number 5]

If you have enough, I'd really like a set as well. I've ordered everything now except for the knobs, I was waiting for the next bulk order.